It’s hard to look in the mirror – literally or figuratively – and not see it…
The evidence…
The scars…
The stains that are so obvious to us and, we’re sure, to the world around us.
Let someone float a compliment our way, and up they rise, at least in our silent thoughts –
The objections.
The dismissals.
That internal whisper that says, “If only they knew the whole story…”
Know what? Somebody does. And He’s the only one who has lived your story and His. And His declaration over you is the final say:
Sin erased. Shame forgotten.
Make no mistake about it. [click to continue…]
So somebody’s in charge, but nobody’s actually leading. There’s a boss, but no vision caster. You have an authority figure, but no one is harnessing the best efforts of the people in your organization.
In short, you have a leadership vacuum. What do you do?
Quit?
Lead a mutiny?
Facebook your friends and tell them what a loser you have as a leader?
Try to outmaneuver others politically and manipulate your way to power?
Sit and suffer and hope for the best, while your peers keep howling for leadership?
How about asking God to smite somebody while you’re at it?
These are all approaches used to face situations that have become almost cliché they’re so common: What do I do when my leader isn’t leading? Organizations everywhere – businesses, churches, nonprofits, and schools are decrying a lack of leadership. Somebody needs to make the tough decisions, cast the difficult vision, harness the amazing abilities and energy of the people! And we seem to be convinced that the answer to the search lies somewhere else.
Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe the search for someone to step into the leadership ends with you. Maybe you’re the leader the organization needs, even if people in executive suites don’t necessarily see it yet. Maybe you’re the catalyst for change, even if you don’t have the sanctioned power to make it so. [click to continue…]
Be the fly on the wall for this conversation…
It’s not that life here is so bad right now.
Okay.
It’s that life is so busy. Urgent all the time.
I can relate to that.
And not even that it’s urgent, but that I don’t feel as though I am responding well to the urgency I do have.
What do you mean?
Nothing ever gets completely done. Or so it feels. My weekly schedule is pretty busy as it is. Then factor in anything else that has been added to the schedule lately, and I’m having a hard time breathing.
I think I know what the problem is.
You do?
Yep. Your Urgency Response Index is low.
My what?
Your Urgency Response Index.
Sounds serious.
It can be. [click to continue…]
When the burdens overwhelm me
And the floods begin to rise
When I see the circumstances
Through lonely, helpless eyes,
There’s a place to go for refuge
And a place to be restored.
And when the storm has passed away,
I’ll be stronger than before.
It’s a place called Higher Ground. David referred to it as a “rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:1). “Take me there when my heart is overwhelmed,” he prayed.
Growing up on the Gulf Coast, it was fairly common to hear small craft advisories and warnings of approaching storms or hurricanes in which people in “low‑lying areas” are warned to move to higher ground. The danger for them is that the storm can literally overwhelm them.
In Psalm 61, David finds himself in a situation in which he is under such pressure of heart that he doesn’t think he can deal with it by himself. He’s in a “low-lying area” spiritually and circumstantially. Can you relate? [click to continue…]
What do you do when you come to the edge of something you want but can’t get there? How do you handle it when you have a clear sense of who you want to be, what you want to be able to do, or what you want to have… but only come away frustrated and defeated? What do you do when you want so badly to push past your limitations and weaknesses, but can’t ever seem to find a way?
You do the one thing you actually can do. And if you’re like most people, you probably won’t, because it sounds so simple.
Check out this snippet of conversation: [click to continue…]
It’s a busy place – a hubbub of activity as people move swiftly to their assigned places. Timing is critical. Everyone must be ready at the appropriate time, and yet few would dare to hasten the process. There is tension, mixed with great anticipation. But above all, there is joy.
Host of a strange mixture of humanity, this place. Highly-trained professionals and knowledgeable assistants mingle freely with ordinary folks. Anxious fathers and burdened mothers await an event that can change their lives forever. The brilliant and the simple, the wealthy and the poor, the veteran and the newcomer all watch with wonder as they witness the miracle of birth. No matter how many times they’ve seen it, each time it’s new and fresh. And there is great, great joy.
Make no mistake about it: this is a work place. In the midst of the video recording, the spectating, and the bystanders waiting in the wings, this is a place of… dare I say it?… labor. [click to continue…]
Know why some people want to be leaders? Because they want the power that comes with it.
Now I’m sure that if you’re a regular reader here, that would in no way describe you. But haven’t you ever known somebody who was super-nice, very inspirational or whatever… then they got the promotion or the big office and turned into Little Caesar?
Or did you ever know somebody who was an awesome “number two” – a great assistant whatever… but when they finally got their chance to pull the organization’s strings royally flopped because they still acted like a “number two?”
“Power corrupts,” Lord Acton observed. “And absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But here’s the rub: all real leaders (and others in leadership positions) have power. Does that mean we’re doomed to lives filled with moral cavities?
Yes. Unless you do something about it.
Oh… I have good news… You can do something about it. [click to continue…]
It’s a small, weary feeling you carry day and night
Against a vast expanse of time, trouble, and exhaustion.
You’re at the mercy of circumstances that somebody else controls.
You feel jerked and tossed back and forth like a rudderless boat.
Lost for direction or answers,
You’re still moving, but you don’t quite know where…
You’re still seeking,
But sometimes you forget what the questions were in the first place.
Yet something keeps you hanging on –
A voice that says, “I’m here, be strong,”
A prayer of faith, a nighttime song
Of hope that says, “This won’t be long.”
Someone keeps you hanging on. [click to continue…]
Something changed that night. And you are the beneficiary. But so many things changed in and around that night that this sometimes gets lost in the shuffle and scuffle.
For three-plus years, Jesus-the-Master had been leading a band of twelve full-time followers. “Disciples,” He called them. And they did what disciples do. Listen. Learn. Serve. Make mistakes. Listen. Lean some more. Serve some more. There were teachable moments and forgettable moments. Fighting times and healing times.
But just before His death, Jesus was giving these loyal men (Judas had already left) a final round of teaching. One guy calls this, “Jesus’ Cram for the Final Exam.” I love it.
Tucked in between these massive concepts about vines and branches and the coming Holy Spirit, Jesus rewrote the contract between Him and those who follow. Read this carefully: [click to continue…]
(Cool things I heard somebody pray, #3)
Went to Willow Creek’s Global Leadership Summit for the first time this week. Of course, “global” for me was the simulcast just down the street at Live Oak Community Church.
Just before the conference began, Doug Halcomb, the senior pastor at Live Oak, led us in a simple prayer:
“Help us to own our influence.”
Wow. God had my attention before Bill Hybels ever appeared on the screen.
Influence
Every one of us has, to some degree, the capacity to shape the character, development, or behavior of someone else. For some people that takes a lot of work. Others seem to affect the world around them with seemingly no effort at all. [click to continue…]
It’s hard to look in the mirror – literally or figuratively – and not see it…
